Meditation
"Hey, Hiro, you in here?" The door swung open. "Oh." One tufted ear swiveled slightly at the intrusion, and a taloned finger twitched minutely on the hilt of the katana. The figure kneeling in the center of the circle of candles made no other acknowledgement, but continued his low repetitive chant. A slight breeze ruffled the small slips of paper spread on the floor as the door swung shut again. The moonlit shadows of the trees outside slowly crept across the polished floor. As the first hint of dawn brightened the eastern sky, Hiro fell silent and rose smoothly to his feet. He opened the door and bowed to the anxious faces of his companions. "I believe I have the answer we seek," he intoned quietly. '' You are able to enter a state of trance and relaxation in order to focus your mind inward. This can be used to deal with mental and physical problems, to find calm again, or to put together pieces of a puzzle that your conscious mind refuses to grasp. System To use meditation a character needs to enter a meditative trance, this can be achieved by succeeding on a Meditation+Intelligence roll, dc 7. Entering the meditative trance requires the character to be in peace and relative quiet, and it takes 20-30 minutes, likewise each subsequent roll represents about 30 minutes of meditation. At storytellers discretion it may be possible to enter the meditative trance even though there is a lot noise or distraction, this will almost certainly be at a higher difficulty. Once in the meditative trance the character can attempt the following feats: *Attempt to solve a difficult problem: This requires an additional roll, this time Meditation+Perception, at difficulty 9. each success lowers the dc of the next Intelligence+Investigation/Enigmas/other roll that the storyteller deems apropriate. *Resist hunger: It is possible to resist hunger through meditation, this applies even to Kindred. To do this, the Kindred must focus his mind on resisting the hunger and roll Meditation+Stamina, dc 9. Each success grants an extra dice on self control rolls to resist hunger-induced frenzies. However to retain the benefits of this meditation the Kindred must remain in peace, thus it is possible to engage in conversation while still remaining calm, but heated debate, rolling to resist frenzy (even hunger frenzy), attacking or being attacked, or engaging in any sort of strenous activity, or expending blood points all break the benefits of this calm. Thus the benefits of meditation to restrain hunger applies only to one hunger frenzy roll for each meditation. *Recover from fatigue: mortals can use meditation as a more rapid method of catching up on lost sleep. Roll Stamina + Meditation versus a difficulty of 8. Each success covers for one hour of sleep. A failure simply indicates that the mortal can't concentrate enough to still his mind; a botch means that the character falls asleep. *Overcome wound penalties: To overcome wound penalties roll Stamina+Meditation (dc health levels missing +2). Reduce the wound penalties by 1 for every 2 successes, up to a maximum reduction of 2. thus if a player scores 3 successes his wound penalties are reduced by 2, so if he was wounded (-2) he would now have no penalties to his dice pool. however it is not possible to use this ability at the crippled health level or below. this roll can only be made once per night, and not by an unwounded character. If this trance is interrupted before enough to break it before the hour is up (brief conversation will not interfere but any physical interference will break the trance), all benefits are lost. Meditation also requires a focus - yogic positions, chanting, etc. - to be effective, other wise no benefits are conferred. #Novice: Those gurus on the street sure make it look easy, right? #Practiced: Meditation helps sometimes when you’re agitated. #Competent: A staple of your lifestyle, meditation keeps your mind clear. #Expert: Even under highly adverse conditions, you can find your center. #Master: You could practice Zen archery unruffled inthe midst of a raging firestorm - with your teeth. '''Possessed by:' New Agers, Martial-Artists, Psychological Patients, Mystics, Priests, Psychologists, Philosophers, Vampires seeking Golconda, Specialties: Stress Management, Clarity, Biofeedback, Zen, Transcendence, Adverse conditions, Calm and Centering, Problem Analysis, Category:Rules Category:Skill Category:Ability